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March 24, 2017

When I was in Maine last year in the home stretch of an Appalachian Trail thru-hike, someone commented on one of my stories or photos and asked if I would ever do it again. I remember I began to respond, and after about 500 words I decided perhaps this was too big for just a

November 21, 2016

If there is anything most misunderstood about the Appalachian Trail thru-hike, it is the idea that it has anything to do with hiking. This is a pretty tough argument to make about a 2,200 mile journey, but I’ve come prepared. Take a look at the current definition of hike as a verb: To walk or

October 28, 2016

Many people have asked what it felt like when I reached the top of Mount Katahdin after hiking 2,200 miles. Did I shed a tear? Did I regret that it was over? Was I relieved that I was finally done? The truth is that in that moment standing on the sign for Baxter Peak with

October 25, 2016

I’m standing at the counter in my father’s condo in Delaware staring at five post-it notes filled with much to do and a familiar feeling comes over me suggesting I may have taken the wrong trail. I pull my cell out of my back pocket and there’s my handy trail guide right there on the

October 2, 2016

I have finished a hike along the shores of West Carry Pond just after dusk until finally reaching a campsite where the trail cuts back into the woods. Before setting up my tent I turn my headlamp off and sit for a bit on a flattish rock, taking in the dark and peculiar silence. It

September 22, 2016

I’m wandering around town 8 miles from the trail in desperation, having a moderate panic attack and meeting with the all-too-familiar words “no public rest room,” having conquered the White Mountains, having conquered Mahoosuc Notch and Arm, body feeling bruised and battered, pace shortened to the slowest yet, perhaps for the first time realizing the

September 14, 2016

Author’s Note: This article describes one of my scarier lessons in insulin management on the trail. I want to stress that I am safe now, and as with all lessons, I am even more prepared having been given the gift of this learning experience than I was the first 1800+ miles of trail. I knew

April 24, 2016

I mentioned in a previous post that I haven’t needed to take insulin since starting my thru-hike, usually hiking between 10 and 15 miles a day. This has remained true as I slowly increase my calorie intake, but my calorie intake still has a long way to go. Earlier this week, however, I had to

March 31, 2016

In late January I was sitting awkwardly on a paper-lined examination table in my endrocinrologist’s office trying to come up with the right words. I had been working too much, a major factor in my decision to thru-hike the Appalachian Trail this year, and I knew it was going to affect the A1C test results

February 4, 2016

As announced last week, sponsor Uncle Joe’s Eclectic, Inc. is donating 10% of sales from its eBay craft supply store to a non-profit summer camp for children with juvenile diabetes. This began on January 27th, and will continue until I finish my thru-hike at Katahdin around September, 2016. Camp Kno-Koma, the summer camp being supported, provides children

January 31, 2016

The arrival of the boots I plan on starting the AT thru-hike with, combined with some advice posted to one of my articles by a veteran hiker, turned my weekend plans into some serious thru-hiking prep. I had recently lost the hiking boots I had been using for three years, and the lack of proper

July 25, 2016

There is something about birthdays that cause many people to become incredibly reflective on where they find themselves in life. I have never been one of these people. Even when I turned the big “Three-Oh,” an event I have seen bring a few others to tears, I simply saw another year pass. If anything, I

July 7, 2016

I have now hiked 1,084 miles on the Appalachian Trail from Georgia to southern Pennsylvania. I’ve done this trying very hard to ignore something that’s been chasing me, something I sometimes see out of the corner of my eye, but quickly look away, lest I recognize it, and it me. Over more than 1,000 miles of

February 6, 2016

The truth is, I expect it can be a little bit of both, depending upon the characteristics of one’s particular agoraphobic tendencies, but I hope to make some surprising arguments in favor of such an undertaking. Let’s face it: thru-hiking the roughly 2,200-mile Appalachian Trail is incredibly challenging for anyone, and five to seven years ago,

January 19, 2016

It is sometimes in the strangest moments, during the course of the most conventional tasks, that drastic change is initiated. Choosing to thru-hike the Appalachian Trail, taking on a six-month, 2200 mile journey through rain and sleet, through cold winter nights as well as hot, humid days, spending each night in a tent or occasionally

January 7, 2016

Like most things in life, there’s only one way to find out. If you told me a few months ago that in March I would begin thru-hiking the Appalachian Trail from Georgia to Maine, I would have said you were crazy. Now that I’ve decided to do it, I realize it was inevitable. It was